Hello All,

I know that this question gets asked a lot, but things change, so I was hoping to get a new perspective. What is everyone's favorite sites to snorkel?

Personally, I enjoy Soft Coral Gardens, Oil Slick Leap, Andrea I and II, Tori's Reef, all of Klein Bonaire, 1000 Steps...to name a few.

any others favorites aside from those mentioned above. Thanks for any input.

Hey Scott, Margate Bay is really nice- but only if it's not so so windy as it was in December.

Our very favorite snorkel site which we discovered last week is located very near the Flamingo airport entrance\exit. There are no identifying yellow rocks. It has a gravel and grass entrance just off the road to park. White sandy beach entry to the reef that is located between a rock jetty at the entrance of the Plaza Resort marina area and the fuel pier that serves the airport fuel tanks. Very nice spot where we spotted an amazing variety of large and small species. Others we can recommend are 1000 Steps (encountered a friendly school of squid immediately upon entering the water), Oil Slick Leap (easy to "leap" in, slippery ladder to get out, but worth the thrill), Andrea I & Andrea II (gained access by boat, saw turtles, 'cudas and other large creatures...amazing, and Tori's Reef which is a bit difficult to enter and exit for beginners (water shoes makes it very easy) but very much worth the effort!

Hey Michael- that's a secret spot near the airport don't tell anyone:-)! We also just discovered that awesome little reef in December- we went there almost every day- saw a turtle and a ton of other fish. My brother almost dropped his new camera when he saw a ray coming at him- he was a little shocked- too bad I didn't see that. Don't know how we have never seen that little beach the last couple times.

My son is 8 and just started enjoying the wonderful snorkeling on Bonaire during our last visit. He has only snorkeled with his Dad at Donkey beach and once at Divi Flamingo beach. Where are other shallow areas that would be suitable for him?

Swanee, to get your son started you could go to the Plaza.
Sandy beach, easy entrance and a swimming pool.

Michael, I agree with your comments. Perhaps we saw you at the airport site. We went twice and really liked it. We saw baracuda, rays, black margate, octopus, and a very large eel in shallow water.

I haven't checked out all places, but the Plaza is really good. Renee took us there. She also told me that the beach is publicly accessible without paying the $5 day fee. The $5 fee is only if you want to use/rent a bed.

Oil slick leap drops quite quickly so I did not find it that good for snorkeling.

1000 steps was pretty disappointing. Maybe this was also due to some current and wind.

Btw the beach @ divi is also OK, as is the place under the airport runway (Windsock if I recall correctly).

I could not find soft coral gardens on my AB map, so didn't try that one.